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JJ Harmse
Dublin is wet and cold. I mean really wet and cold and things are not really looking to improve in the next couple of days.
They expect Saturday to be cold as well as very, very windy. Like it was in 2006 when the Boks last played Ireland in Dublin.
On that occasion it was played at Lansdowne Road, which has since been refurbished and revamped. When finished next year, it will again become the home of Irish rugby and soccer and called the Aviva stadium.
Saturday will see the Boks play at Croke Park for the first time and speaking to the players, they all are looking forward to the experience of playing in front of 80 000-odd Irish supporters.
The South African travelling supporters are starting to dribble into Dublin steadily and they should hopefully become a visible number as the Boks will need all the support they can get.
I was at Lansdowne Road in 2006 and can clearly remember how angry I was at the Boks and more particularly, Jake White, that day.
It was a special occasion, as the Springboks played in their original jersey as part of the Springbok centenary, but poor team selections by White saw the Springboks being outplayed by a fierce Irish side.
I felt that White did not do justice to the occasion by picking, for example, Bryan Habana at 13 and Jaco Pretorius, who made his debut that night, at 14.
It did explode in his face as neither player knew where they were defensively for most of the game.
White was of course, experimenting ahead of the 2007 World Cup and tried some new faces, among them Frans Steyn and Bevin Fortuin. We all know now who of the two kicked on.
Blooded new players
In a way, it is the same with Peter de Villiers and his team in 2009. He has also blooded new players on tour and had the added value of two midweek games.
Yet it will be a much more composed and mature Bok side that will front up to the Irish at Croke Park than the one that was literally and figuratively blown away at Lansdowne Road.
There are some new faces again, with Wian du Preez, Jean Deysel and Francois Hougaard still fresh from their debuts a week ago, but also a very established core or spine down the line, as they call it in rugby.
With Wynand Olivier slotting in at centre in place of Adrian Jacobs, the backline does give one a good feel, although most of the war is likely to be won up front, considering the possible conditions.
Olivier was another who benefitted from White’s planning at the time and played in that game in 2006. This time around, he again will have to establish his credentials, although he has played some 20-odd Tests to date.
Of course, in 2006, White was three years into his reign as national coach and on the verge of being fired. A win at Twickenham two weeks later saved his bacon and he led the team to RWC glory a year later.
De Villiers is nowhere close to being fired and is indeed looking to end the year with his team named IRB Team of the Year, himself voted Coach of the Year and scrumhalf Fourie du Preez named Player of the Year. This will certainly all happen should the Boks beat the Irish. If they don't, De Villiers will experience the other side of the coin.
The British and Irish Lions supporters and media still feel that the Boks were lucky to win the series and with as many as 10 of the starting Irish team part of the Lions team, an Irish win would give them the needed ammunition to add to their arguments.
It is of course a match between the two champions of the hemispheres and yes, there was some bad blood on the Lions tour that was not resolved.
Brian O’Driscoll called De Villiers a disgrace to the game after the Bok coach refused to blame Schalk Burger for alleged eye-gouging.
De Villiers had a nice comeback line this week when asked to reply to O’Driscoll’s statements.
“He is entitled to his opinion, just as the half of Ireland are who feel that Paul O’Connell should be the captain of the national side,” De Villiers replied.
It remains sad that the coach was ridiculed in local newspapers this week, but I suppose some of that was his own doing. He has certainly upped the ante with regards to his media relationships in the last six months, but still shoots from the hip when confronted by foreign accents.
Let’s hope that his team will speak on his behalf this weekend. Beating the Irish would not only ensure a special year for the Boks, but will give the IRB no option but to hand De Villiers the award as Coach of the Year. Now would that not be something that will be hard to swallow in Huguenot House!
Read JJ every Sunday in Rapport.
Disclaimer: Sport24 encourages freedom of speech and the expression of diverse views. The views of columnists published on Sport24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Sport24.
Dublin is wet and cold. I mean really wet and cold and things are not really looking to improve in the next couple of days.
They expect Saturday to be cold as well as very, very windy. Like it was in 2006 when the Boks last played Ireland in Dublin.
On that occasion it was played at Lansdowne Road, which has since been refurbished and revamped. When finished next year, it will again become the home of Irish rugby and soccer and called the Aviva stadium.
Saturday will see the Boks play at Croke Park for the first time and speaking to the players, they all are looking forward to the experience of playing in front of 80 000-odd Irish supporters.
The South African travelling supporters are starting to dribble into Dublin steadily and they should hopefully become a visible number as the Boks will need all the support they can get.
I was at Lansdowne Road in 2006 and can clearly remember how angry I was at the Boks and more particularly, Jake White, that day.
It was a special occasion, as the Springboks played in their original jersey as part of the Springbok centenary, but poor team selections by White saw the Springboks being outplayed by a fierce Irish side.
I felt that White did not do justice to the occasion by picking, for example, Bryan Habana at 13 and Jaco Pretorius, who made his debut that night, at 14.
It did explode in his face as neither player knew where they were defensively for most of the game.
White was of course, experimenting ahead of the 2007 World Cup and tried some new faces, among them Frans Steyn and Bevin Fortuin. We all know now who of the two kicked on.
Blooded new players
In a way, it is the same with Peter de Villiers and his team in 2009. He has also blooded new players on tour and had the added value of two midweek games.
Yet it will be a much more composed and mature Bok side that will front up to the Irish at Croke Park than the one that was literally and figuratively blown away at Lansdowne Road.
There are some new faces again, with Wian du Preez, Jean Deysel and Francois Hougaard still fresh from their debuts a week ago, but also a very established core or spine down the line, as they call it in rugby.
With Wynand Olivier slotting in at centre in place of Adrian Jacobs, the backline does give one a good feel, although most of the war is likely to be won up front, considering the possible conditions.
Olivier was another who benefitted from White’s planning at the time and played in that game in 2006. This time around, he again will have to establish his credentials, although he has played some 20-odd Tests to date.
Of course, in 2006, White was three years into his reign as national coach and on the verge of being fired. A win at Twickenham two weeks later saved his bacon and he led the team to RWC glory a year later.
De Villiers is nowhere close to being fired and is indeed looking to end the year with his team named IRB Team of the Year, himself voted Coach of the Year and scrumhalf Fourie du Preez named Player of the Year. This will certainly all happen should the Boks beat the Irish. If they don't, De Villiers will experience the other side of the coin.
The British and Irish Lions supporters and media still feel that the Boks were lucky to win the series and with as many as 10 of the starting Irish team part of the Lions team, an Irish win would give them the needed ammunition to add to their arguments.
It is of course a match between the two champions of the hemispheres and yes, there was some bad blood on the Lions tour that was not resolved.
Brian O’Driscoll called De Villiers a disgrace to the game after the Bok coach refused to blame Schalk Burger for alleged eye-gouging.
De Villiers had a nice comeback line this week when asked to reply to O’Driscoll’s statements.
“He is entitled to his opinion, just as the half of Ireland are who feel that Paul O’Connell should be the captain of the national side,” De Villiers replied.
It remains sad that the coach was ridiculed in local newspapers this week, but I suppose some of that was his own doing. He has certainly upped the ante with regards to his media relationships in the last six months, but still shoots from the hip when confronted by foreign accents.
Let’s hope that his team will speak on his behalf this weekend. Beating the Irish would not only ensure a special year for the Boks, but will give the IRB no option but to hand De Villiers the award as Coach of the Year. Now would that not be something that will be hard to swallow in Huguenot House!
Read JJ every Sunday in Rapport.
Disclaimer: Sport24 encourages freedom of speech and the expression of diverse views. The views of columnists published on Sport24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Sport24.
